


while (answer != yes)

by ComputerGecko



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Asexual Character, BFF tina chen, Background HankCon - Freeform, Background Simarkus, Chris Tries, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, Gavin has hangups, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, MVP Tina Chen, Marriage Proposal, Not Beta Read, Pseudocode, Rating May Change, Rejection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23680087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComputerGecko/pseuds/ComputerGecko
Summary: while (answer != yes){ask(gavinReed[Partner] to marry rk900[self]);cin >> answer;}Or: The one where Nines keeps asking Gavin to marry him and Gavin says no, until he doesn't
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> So for those of you not familiar with coding, the summary is something called a while loop. It basically translates to: While the answer is not equal to yes, ask again. 
> 
> There is going to be some coding stuff in here, an experiment on my part. This isnt actual code, its a mix of formatting from css and c++. I have not worked with c++ in about five years, and even then it was just some college classes. While it is something I'm interested in, I'm not going to pretend I got the syntax correct. I will however offer a translation to the code part in the ending notes for those who are confused. Also, if the color part is hard to read, I will provide a link to a colorless version of that text in the end notes.
> 
> This work goes out to the Reed900 discord where I like to rant about all my ideas and they encourage me haha. Come check it out, I'm always down to talk reed900. https://discord.gg/NrNgnd6
> 
> A special shoutout to Lupo and Sinister who gave me feedback for this and also being complicit in encouraging me to come up with too many projects to write now.

Nines is supposed to be working, Gavin and he have multiple open cases, three reports to complete, and a perp to interrogate still. Yet his attention is on none of these things, and is instead glued to the TV on the wall, always set to a news station so they can monitor things in the media. They have different TV’s for different news channels, but today they are all covering the same thing: Markus and Simon’s wedding.

As of today, marriage is legal for androids. And to celebrate this win for androids, Markus had proposed to his partner, and their wedding is being broadcast for the entire world to see. Nines can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the display. 

On screen they are facing each other, an android priest officiating the ceremony. The priest is saying something, but that fades into the background noise. Nines is too focused on the way Markus gazes at Simon, the way Simon gazes back. They have eyes for no one else, the world only consists of the two of them. It's extremely romantic, and awakens an ache in Nines’ chest that he doesn’t understand. This is a happy moment, yet he finds himself... wanting. But what is it he wants? Why is this scene bringing him such yearning? He doesn’t understand. 

“Hey, what’s got you so worked up tin can?” A voice breaks through his thoughts, and Nines is brought back to the present when Gavin comes crashing into his space, bumping into Nines’ chair as he makes himself at home sitting on Nines’ desk, disturbing all the carefully placed items the android has curated over the past nine months as a DPD detective. 

Nines turns to the disturbance that is his partner, in both work and in a personal capacity, finding Gavin looking at him with a worried look on his face and- 

Oh.

Everything clicks into place.

“Hey, you awake in there?” Gavin raps a knuckle lightly against his temple, and Nines swats a hand at him. 

“I’m perfectly fine, Gavin.”

Gavin shoots a skeptical look at his LED, which is no longer spinning yellow like it was when Nines was watching the broadcast, now back to its neutral blue. His human shrugs a shoulder and pushes off his desk, walking around to instead throw himself into his own chair at his desk across from Nines’. 

“If you say so.” Gavin picks up his mug of coffee, now lukewarm, and rattles his mouse around to wake up his terminal. He takes a sip of the lukewarm beverage and pulls a face, but continues to drink it rather than get a new cup. 

Nines glances back at the screen where Markus and Simon have their hands intertwined, synth skin pulled back as they interface. Markus uses his free hand to pull Simon forward into a kiss, sealing the deal. They are now married, husband and husband, their gold rings glinting in the sunlight, showing everyone that they are together in the eyes of the law, two halves to a whole-

Nines looks back at Gavin.

“Gavin, we should get married.”

Gavin, who was mid sip, starts to cough and splutter as he spits his coffee across his desk. Nines moves to help him but Gavin waves him off. 

“What the actual fuck Nines!?” Gavin rasps, voice full of anger and rough from the drink going down the wrong way, glaring at Nines’ in a way that’s more familiar from the first month they worked together, back when their relationship was hostile. Nines’ frowns. Wasn’t this supposed to be a happy moment?

Gavin looks around, for what Nines’ isn’t really sure. When Nines does the same thing, he sees that no one is really paying them any attention, the office rather empty as most of the police force are doing security at the wedding event. Despite the progress they have made, there are still anti-android groups out there. 

When he turns back, Gavin is spitting curses under his breath as he tries to wipe up the spilled coffee with some old napkins from the takeout he got last week. His movements are jerky, his shoulders tense, Nines’ has pissed him off. 

Nines’ LED spins red, trying to figure out what went wrong. Did he do it wrong?

“That’s a real fucking sick joke, asshole,” Gavin growls at him, throwing the soiled paper napkins into the trash. Before Nines’ can assure him it wasn’t a joke, Gavin is stomping off in the direction of the break room. 

Nines’ watches him go before turning slowly back to his terminal. The case files stare back at him but he doesn’t see them, too lost in his thoughts.

mission.status ask(gavinReed[Partner] to marry rk900[Self]){  
status = F A I L E D;  
reason = gavinReed[Partner] thought it was a joke;  
} 

query << "why did gavinReed[Partner] think it was a joke?"; 

mission.new << answer(query);  
mission.addSubtask << seek more information;  


run preconstruction(find(highestRateOfSuccess)){  
>> ask(connor[Brother]){  
confidant to rk900[Self];  
has more experience with human relations;  
has not proposed to anyone;  
relationship status to gavinReed[Partner] = Tense;  
low rate of success;  
}  
  
>> ask(lieutenantAnderson[Friendly]){  
previous success with proposal;  
marriage status: divorced;  
relationship status to gavinReed[Partner] = Tense;  
moderate rate of success;  
}  
  
>> ask(officerChen[Friendly]){  
previous success with proposal;  
marriage status = fulfilling;  
relationship status to gavinReed[Partner] = BestFriend;  
high rate of success;  
}  
  
>> ask(internet){  
many resources;  
unsure which resources will help best;  
rate of success = unknown;  //more information needed  
}  
}  


mission.addSubtask << ask(officerChen[Friendly]);


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me a bit of trouble, mainly in the coding part, because stupid google docs kept using smart quotes. If it seems disjointed or unclear, I'm sorry. Ill try to iron it out sometime. Ill make a link to a colorless version eventually. Ill include the summaries for the code in that version.

The opportunity to talk to Officer Chen comes not even an hour later. Gavin has yet to return, though Nines would be surprised if he sees Gavin again before it's time to go home. From the huge smile on her face and the multitude of cheap party beads around her neck, she has just returned from the wedding event. Given her cheer, the event must have gone off without incident, which is far from how things went here."

She sees him and smiles even wider, making her way over to his desk. She takes one of the bead necklaces from her neck and slips it around Nines' neck, a bright blue that would match his LED were it not stuck on red right now. From her vantage point she can't see that though.

"You guys missed out on one hell of a party," She says, leaning against his desk in the same place Gavin had occupied earlier today. When Nines failed to propose successfully. "Besides a few protesters with signs, everyone gathered there in support. Humans and androids alike. They were throwing these beads around, like it was a parade or something, so I grabbed some for you both since you got stuck here."

Nines should be pleased with this news, but he finds it hard to muster up the correct amount of enthusiasm. Officer Chen must notice his mood finally, the smile on her face slipping. Nines feels even worse for having ruined her good cheer."

"Hey, where's Gavin? I've got a necklace for him too," she holds up a similar purple necklace."

"I'm not sure where he is right now," When Nines' finally turns to her fully, she's able to see the red of his LED."

"Hey, Nines, are you okay?" she asks tentatively. While they are on good terms with each other, they aren't quite familiar enough to comfortably provide emotional support. She's trying, and Nines is sure Tina will become as close to him as Connor is someday and hopes that he will be that for her in return too.

"I'm processing a lot at the moment," he says, which is true. He's been going over the moment over and over in his head, and the only thing he's gotten out of it is that he messed up somewhere. "Detective Reed stormed off after I asked him to marry me."

The beads drop from Officer Chen's fingers, hitting the floor with a soft clatter. Neither of them move to pick them up. Tina gapes at him, eyes wide and eyebrows high on her forehead. Nines registers this expression as shock. She seems to be trying to form words, it's almost like she's going through a soft reboot."

"He uh, you-" she continues to grasp for words, and Nines waits patiently. She eventually clears her throat, turning to face him more fully. Her voice is full of concern when she speaks again, she places a hand on his shoulder, offering comfort. "Are you okay?"

"No," he answers honestly, because he isn't. He's confused, he's hurt. This is not how he thought this would go. Not that he put a lot of thought into 'how it would go', which is probably what got him into this mess. Gavin has been encouraging him to be more spontaneous, to live in the moment, but look where that has landed him. "I'm not sure what went wrong."

When prompted, Nines relays the events to Tina. She listens to his story, and winces when he gets to the part where Gavin stormed off.

"Yikes, Nines. That's rough."

"I believe that is a fair assessment." He feels better having said everything out loud. A lot of feelings have happened in the past hour. He's not used to feeling yet, particularly such a violent sway from one end of the spectrum to the other. "What should I do?"

"So, let me get this straight. You were having this big internal revelation, figured you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him, so when he shows up you just blurt out ‘we should get married'. Do I have that right?"

"That is a good approximation of the events, yes."

Tina takes a deep breath before letting it out. "Well, if I'm being honest, it was kind of a horrible proposal."

Nines frowns at that, looking back at his desk, his fists curling in the fabric of his pants. His proposal was horrible, this is something he has already figured out. Yet it isn't pleasant to hear out loud.

"W-what I mean is that Gavin hates surprises! And no matter what hollywood tells you about surprise proposals, that's not for everyone. 'Specially not our Gavin." Officer Chen offers a small smile, and Nines' appreciates her attempt to bring humor into even if it doesn't make him feel better.

"No, he isn't particularly fond of surprises."

"I think the two of you should talk about this, and not at work. Definitely not at work. Make sure you let him know why you want to get married. Not just because you saw Simon and Markus on tv. Tell him what you told me, about the realization you had. He'll love that part, he's secretly a romantic at heart." Tina offers him a wink and this gets a twitch from him."

Nines thinks over this information. Gavin really didn't like surprises, and perhaps work hadn't been the best place to do this. Gavin was not big on public displays of affection at work. Nines' surprise, public proposal must have made him uncomfortable. He really should have given more thought to this. He would do better next time."

Next time, if he did this right, Gavin would say yes. Nines wanted him to say yes. He still wasn't used to wanting things, but this felt right. He felt it deep in his coding. Gavin had become a critical part of him, and without him, Nines would cease to function properly, his code would just return errors.

"Thank you for your help Officer Chen, you have been a big help." He offers her a smile, the best he can manage anyway. He's never gotten the hang of it like Connor has, but she knows this. She returns the gesture, and with a final squeeze to his shoulder pushes herself away from his desk."

"Anytime, Nines. Hope you guys get it all straightened out."

"So do I."

mission.completeSubtask << ask(officerChen[Friendly]);  
mission.completeSubtask << seek more information;  
mission.status answer(query){  
status = successful;  
answer = gavinReed[Partner] thought it was a joke because rk900[Self] did not take the question seriously;  
conclusion = proposal needs to be thought out;  
proposal needs to be personalized;  
}  
remove(precinct from appropriateLocations.list);  
mission.new create list(reasonsToGetMarried);  
mission.new while(answer != yes){  
ask(gavinReed[Partner] to marry rk900[Self]);  
cin >> answer;  
}

Predictably, Nines doesn't see Gavin for the rest of their shift. He returns five minutes before it's time to clock out, avoiding looking at Nines completely. His shoulders are hunched up and his stress levels are steadily at 80%. He grabs his leather jacket and locks his terminal before heading out to the parking lot."

Nines locks his own terminal and follows after him, staying a few paces back to give Gavin space.

Once Gavin gets inside the car, he waits for Nines, something the android wasn't a hundred percent sure he was going to do. Gavin has been angry enough to drive off without him before. It hasn't happened since they started their romantic relationship. Nines is glad he's not that pissed.

The drive is tense. Gavin immediately flips the radio on, turning the volume up high, a clear hint that he doesn't want to talk. Not that Nines was going to bring it up yet. Location was key, and the car was hardly a step up from the precinct. No, Nines would wait until they got home to bring it up again.

Once they finally arrive home, Gavin practically jumps from the car, leaving Nines behind. His behavior is bordering on ridiculous, but Nines just takes a calming breath, finding the action cathartic even if unnecessary. Now that they are home, it will be even harder for Gavin to avoid him. When Nines enters their apartment, avoiding tripping on Gavin's shoes hastily thrown in the middle of the doorway, his partner has already moved into the kitchen. Likely to start dinner.

Nines moves to stand in the kitchen doorway. Already Gavin's stress levels have lowered to 64%.

mission.location (home = optimal);

"Gavin."

Gavin grunts in response, a slight uptick in his stress levels, but still doesn't look at him. He continues to go through the cupboards, likely looking to see what he can make from what they have. It's about time they made a trip to the grocery store.

"Gavin Christopher Reed," The use of his full name gets him a quick glance, wary, before the human's gaze skitters away again. Nines can't recall having ever used his full name before. Gavin turns away from the cupboards, having decided on something, and moves to take his coat off."

"Will you marry me?"

Gavin freezes mid action and gives Nines an incredulous look.

"That isn't fucking funny, asshole," Gavin snaps, yanking his coat the rest of the way off and throwing it onto the kitchen table."

"I'm not joking, Gavin."

Gavin glares at him, and Nines stands his ground. Slowly the glare melts into a look of shock.

"You're being serious right now."

"I am."

Gavin lets out a strangled laugh. "What the fuck Nines?"

recall memory(08.14.2039.153412){  
officerChen[Friendly] >> "Make sure you let him know why you want to get married."  
}

"We live together, we work together, we spend most of our time together, our values line up, we are sexually compatible, we are faithful to each other, we have mutual trust for each other," and today at the station-"

"Enough," Gavin interrupts, and the slight panicked expression on his face stops Nines in his tracks. Nines scans him. Gavin is avoiding eye contact again, stress levels 83%, heart rate above average, perspiration on the forehead and palms. Instead of the earlier anger, Gavin is exhibiting signs of distress. Fear. Why is Gavin afraid?

recall memory(08.14.2039.153416){  
officerChen[Friendly] >> "Tell him what you told me, about the realization you had. He'll love that part, he's secretly a romantic at heart"  
}

"I realized something today. When I saw Markus and Simon-"

"Shit, Nines, you can't just ask like that, it's not- I can't-" Gavin releases a frustrated breath, searching for words. "Look- I don't want to talk about this right now. I just wanna eat dinner and maybe watch some TV."

Nines watches as Gavin stalks past, into the living room, LED circling red.

!!warning!! (riskOfFailure > 50%) !!warning!!  
preconstruct.action(rk900[Self]: push the subject){  
riskOfFailure > 84%;  
outcomeMostLikely: gavinReed[Partner] will become hostile;  
suggestedAction: drop subject;  
}

The warning pops up in his HUD but Nines dismisses it. If he lets this drop now, he will be left feeling unsatisfied and restless. Against his programming's suggestion, he follows after his partner. Gavin is standing in the living room, arms crossed as he stares at the general direction of the TV.

"Is that a no, then?"

Gavin rounds on him."

"Is it a- of course it's a fucking no!" Gavin snaps, pushing past him and going back into the kitchen. "Why can't you take a fucking hint and drop it already!"

answer = no;  
mission.updateStatus << failed;  
retry? [y/n];

From inside the kitchen, Nines hears Gavin slam the fridge shut.

cin << n;  
!! error !!  
input conflicts with mission objective: while(answer != yes);  
retry? [y/n];

Nines remains frozen, a new, unpleasant feeling growing in his chest. It feels like a hand is gripping his thirium pump regulator, similar to the phantom feeling of the broadcast android's fingers grasping at his predecessor's pump moments before he ripped the component out of Connor's chest. It's one memory he wishes hadn't been transferred to him. He runs a diagnostic, but it returns that his hardware is functioning within standard levels. Everything is as it should be, nothing has been removed. It doesn't make him feel any better.

Nines doesn't say anything more, just retreats to the living room couch, trying to process where he went wrong this time. Clearly he needs to do more research.

mission.updateStatus ask(officerChen[Friendly]) << failed;  
mission.reopenSubtask "seek more information";  
mission.update while(gavinReed[Partner].mood == hostile && seekMoreInformation.status != successful){  
postpone (while(answer != yes));  
}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the angstttt. Itll get better, but first its gonna be a bit rough lol. Thanks for reading chapter two! Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a Comment or Kudo to let me know, the help fuel me to write faster! And if you want to talk Reed900 consider joining this [discord group](https://discord.gg/NrNgnd6)! I'm always down to chat Reed900.

**Author's Note:**

> [Colorless coding link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23675326/chapters/56862169#workskin)  
> So the coding part at the end translates roughly to this:  
> Nine's proposal failed. His new mission is to find out why. So he needs information. He runs a preconstruction to figure out who best to ask. Connor has a low chance of success because while Nines trusts him the most to talk about this, he has no experience with proposing. Hank is moderately successful because he has successfully proposed to someone in the past (his ex-wife) but that marriage ended in divorce. Tina has the highest success because she's Gavin's bff, and she's happily married. The internet is an unknown outcome, because Nines' doesnt know how to sort through which information is accurate and which is not. It would also take a while to sort through all of it. In conclusion he decides to ask Tina. 
> 
> And that's the basic summary! Hope you all enjoyed it, I can't wait to write more. Please let me know what you thought of the code part, as it was a huge pain to work out the formatting so if everyone hates it and finds it confusing ill probably discontinue using that part. Also, if there will be more pseudocode in future chapters it will be much shorter than that was. 
> 
> Join us in the Reed900 discord if you wanna talk about these disaster children haha. Link is above. Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated and keep me going.


End file.
